Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon Recap Part 2: The Race

Aaaaand I'm back! I know you've all been anxiously awaiting Part 2 of my USA Marathon recap.  If you missed Part 1, or loved it so much that you want to read it again and again, you can find it here.

And now, we take you back to the start line of the Rock 'n' Roll USA marathon.

The first mile had me worried -- my legs felt heavy and my whole body felt sluggish at what should have been an easy pace.  It didn't help that despite entering a predicted finish time of 5 hrs and being placed in corral 18, everyone else seemed to be moving faster than my 10:45 pace.  By the 5K, I had relaxed a bit and the pace started to feel easier.  It helped that during the first few miles we saw the Supreme Court, the Capitol, and a few of the Smithsonian museums, among other buildings that made my inner American government nerd jump up and down clapping.

Proof I was actually in D.C.

Things got interesting again a little way into mile 4, when we hit the course's major climb.  Miles 4-7 were a fairly steady uphill stretch that only got steeper as we went up Connecticut Ave toward my hotel, which just happened to sit at the top of the course's major hill.

Miles 4 through 7 were pretty rough for this Chicago girl

I think I managed to keep a fairly steady, if slow, pace as we went, but my legs were definitely feeling it.  Seeing this sign early in the climb, shortly after turning onto Connecticut, may have helped get me through this section of the course:

Actually took this later in the evening--I didn't have my phone out during the race

Despite a bit of leg fatigue, I stuck to my first-half plan of only taking a quick walk break every 4 miles to take a few ShotBloks.  I drank from my camelbak to avoid losing my rhythm at the aid stations, which I think was a big problem for me in Chicago last October.  Mentally, I was feeling pretty good until mile 9, when I saw a sign that said something like "4 more miles until brunch! Or 17 if you're running the full".  Tip for spectators: it is generally NOT a good idea to remind marathoners how many miles they have left to go when that number has double digits.  This led to much mental cursing, but I kept chugging along.

Then I hit the point where the half and full courses split, just after mile 12, and suddenly there were significantly fewer runners on the road and barely any spectators.  I'd like to say this is the point where I dug deep and settled in for the long haul, but in reality, I panicked and completely fell apart.  I believe my thought process went something like this: "Oh eff.  What am I doing??  I could be done right now but we're turning away from the finish instead.  And there is no one waiting for me further along the course.  14 more miles of just me and the @$!#*&^ asphalt?!  I can't keep this up for 14 more miles.  Bye bye, five hour goal."  My heart was racing, it was difficult to breath, I started getting chills, and I thought I might vomit.  I tried to start running again after my usual walk break length (2 minutes or so) but I ended up walking most of mile 12.  Way to keep your head in the game, Jess!

Not sure, but this may actually have been around mile 13 -- amazing what a camera will do

But I did eventually pull it together and crossed the halfway point just one minute over my 2:24 goal, leaving plenty of room to hit 5 hours.  From 12 to 18, my plan was to take a quick walk break every 2 miles, but I think I only made it to about 15 before that strategy turned into a quick walk break every mile.  I kept telling myself to get to 16, and then I could start counting down the single-digit miles remaining.  I made a quick pit stop around mile 17, where there was an aid station with multiple free port-a-potties and volunteers handing out cups of ice in addition to water.  I was starting to overheat at this point, and was unbelievably happy to have the opportunity to stuff ice cubes down my back and under my hat.  Things got rough again with a brutal out-and-back stretch of road between 18 and 19.  You could see the aid station when you turned the corner at 18, but didn't actually get there for another mile.  I started to regret having used up my camelbak on the first half, and tried to keep my focus on making it to 20.  Somewhere in the 17-20 stretch, I was passed by the 5-hr pace group, which had started behind me.  I kept them in my sights for a bit, but eventually lost them.  Incredibly demoralizing.  And it didn't help that by this point, the gap between my GPS watch and the mile markers was almost a full mile and increasing, so I couldn't reliably judge my pace or where I was on the course.

At mile 20, we turned onto a fairly pretty stretch of the course along the Anacostia River.  Unfortunately, 20-23 was also a stretch of the course with virtually no spectators and no shade.  I was really starting to feel the sun.  I hit mile 20 at about 3:50, just after my playlist started it's second loop. At this point I seriously doubted that I had a 70 min 10K in me, and started to think about revising my goals.  I decided that I would shoot for 5:08, which would be a 20 min PR, and would be satisfied with anything under 5:15.

You don't look like the Charles ...

The last 5 miles were a slog to the finish.  Mentally, I started to feel much better knowing that I was going to finish.  And, if I'm being honest, knowing that the sub-5 pressure was gone.  Physically, I was struggling.  I had hoped I would be ok only taking walk breaks every mile, but before long I was bargaining with myself to finish out the half mile, or the quarter mile, or the song I was listening to.  I walked every slight incline in an attempt to save my legs.  I tried to pinpoint exactly what was going wrong -- legs? feet? heart rate? breathing? -- but could never really single out one thing.  I just wanted to be done.

Finally, I passed the 25 mile marker, and before long I could see RFK stadium.  I planned to run the entire last mile, but quickly realized that this would require an incredibly slow pace.  I tried to run at a normal pace for as long as I could and then walk until I was recovered enough to go again.  Most of the last mile was a lonely stretch over the Anacostia River and around the stadium, and felt much harder than the last mile of Chicago, where there were a bunch of cheering spectators carrying runners through the finish.  I tried to push myself to beat 5:10, but just couldn't do it.  Soon enough, I crossed the 26 miler marker, and then the 13 mile from the half, and then heard my name over the PA just before I crossed the finish line 5:10:53.

BRAAAAAAAINS

Splits are a little screwy since my watch added almost a mile over the course of the race

I walked through the chute, where I got my medal, had my finisher photo taken, and picked up a freezing cold towel and plenty of fluids and food.  Then I walked staggered over to a grassy area outside the Armory to collapse on the grass (easier said than done, at that point) and rest for a bit before collecting my gear.  I took down a bottle of water, an apple, and a few bites of bagel while I texted family and friends to let them know that I was, in fact, still alive.

Still standing

Not sure why, but this makes it all worth it!

After a while, I manged to stand up and make my way to the Armory.  I picked up my bag, sat down on the gym floor, and very slowly changed into dry clothes while I drank my chocolate milk and chatted with a few other finishers.  Then I dragged myself outside to sit in the sun, eat a Builder Bar and drink some more water, and contemplate what seemed like an impossibly long Metro ride and walk back to the hotel, which oh by the way happened to be at the top of that hill from mile six.

Check back soon for Part 3 recapping my post-race adventures (spoiler alert: they weren't very adventurous).

Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon Recap Part 1: Pre-Race

I was going to try to do this in one blog post, but it was starting to get out of control.  So this is the first of three posts on my D.C. marathon experience.  Check back soon for Part 2, which will cover the actual race.  Unless you have no interest in hearing about the boring running part of this adventure, in which case you can just wait for Part 3, when I'll talk about the ridiculously delicious things I ate after the race.

Ok, here we go ...

After spending a fair amount of time on Thursday night cursing past-Jess for the decision to book a 7:15 am flight, I was actually pretty happy when I arrived in D.C. bright and early Friday morning.  My flight got in around 9 am, which gave me plenty of time to catch the Metro to the Armory and arrive at the expo 15 minutes before it opened.  I thought I was going to be wandering around alone for a while, but there was already a line outside the doors!  Things moved very quickly once the doors opened, though, and I managed to pick up my race bib and swag bag, buy a sweet Brooks fleece and a pint glass, and pick up a few free samples all within about half an hour.  The speed may have had something to do with the fact that I hadn't gone to the hotel yet and was still lugging around all my gear for the weekend.

This was one of the first things I saw at the expo, and I immediately loved it

My growing collection ...

After the expo, I took the Metro to Dupont Circle.  I was really pleased to discover that the short stretch of Connecticut Ave between the Metro station and my hotel contained a Chipotle, a Five Guys, a Cosi, a bagel shop, a Rite Aid, and two Italian restaurants.  I was even more excited when I got to the hotel (Courtyard Dupont Circle, highly recommend) and they had a room ready for me despite the fact that it wasn't even noon.  I unpacked a bit, changed into running clothes, and headed out for a combination shakeout run/supply gathering expedition.

I was a little nervous about the shakeout run, since I'd never done one the day before a half or full marathon, but it felt great.  I did an easy two miles around the neighborhood, which happened to be the same neighborhood where I visited David last summer.  I'm notorious for having a horrible sense of direction, so I was pleasantly surprised by my ability to a) not get lost, b) find some familiar places, and c) end my two mile route just around the corner from Chipotle without using my cell phone.

After the run, I picked up a burrito for lunch, stopped by the Rite Aid for some last minute essentials, including an instant ice pack for my knee and some shelf-stable chocolate milk for after the race, and grabbed a takeout menu from the Italian restaurant across the street from my hotel so I would be set for dinner.  This was pretty much the high point of my productivity for the day.

I spent the rest of Friday eating, napping, watching March Madness games, and setting out all my gear for Saturday morning.  I had been really worried about spending the day before the race on my own in a city I didn't know very well, but things worked out pretty much perfectly.  I had no trouble procuring massive amounts of carbs, and the time alone in the hotel room was actually very relaxing.

Dinner was spaghetti marinara with a side of green beans.  I thought this was a perfectly reasonable order, but the guy on the phone told me it was an odd combination!  Still tasted delicious to me, even if it was way more food than I could eat by myself.  I stayed awake a little later than I'd planned thanks to some extra exciting basketball games, but still managed to get more sleep than I'm usually able to pre-race.

So. Much. Food.  I didn't even come close to taking it down.

Saturday morning I had no trouble getting out of bed when the alarm went off at 5am.  I ate a few strawberry frosted Pop Tarts (which, by the way, do not travel well!), got dressed, checked all my gear one last time, and headed out the door a little before 6am.

Walking down Connecticut Ave.  I could see the Washington Monument, but it didn't come through in the photo

I made it to the Metro just after it opened, and only had to wait a few minutes for a not too crowded red line train to appear.  Unfortunately, when I had to transfer at Metro Center for the longer part of the trip, I ended up having to wait 20 minutes as more and more runners gathered on the platform.  The first train that arrived was too packed to take more than a few people, and then next one had no seats by the time I got on and was completely jammed by the time everyone boarded.  Spending almost an hour on my feet while carrying all my post-race gear was not exactly the way I planned to spend my pre-race morning!  Still, I made it to the Armory for gear check a little after 7am, so things certainly could have been worse.

After dropping off my bag and chatting with some very nice runners in line for the Port-a-Potties, I made my way to corral 18.  I started to get a bit antsy waiting for the start, and then for our corral to start moving, but soon enough we were off!

Disney's Princess Half Weekend Recap Part 3: Post-Race

Again, sorry for the delay.  To reward you for your patience, you get this extra-long, jam-packed with photos super post.  Everyone buckled up?  Ok, here we go ...

Sunday
After cleaning up surprisingly quickly, given how tired we all were after the race, it was time to get our Magic Kingdom on.  We took a Shades of Green bus to the Magic Kingdom transportation center, where we could catch the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.  I was actually pretty excited about a monorail ride -- no visit to Disney World is complete without a monorail ride!

A line halfway down the ramp from the platform was NOT what we wanted to see

Unfortunately, a lot of other people also had the brilliant idea of taking the monorail to the Magic Kingdom at approximately 11am. We figured the wait wouldn't be too bad, given typical Disney efficiency, but apparently something had gone very, very wrong in the monorail command center.  We made it up to the platform without waiting too long, and positioned ourselves right in front of gate so that we would be sure to make it on the next monorail AND get seats.  And then we waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.

Heidi and Diane do not like to be kept waiting

Finally, monorail blue came to rescue us!

Hello, monorail!

And then, after sitting in the station for a few minutes, monorail blue left without taking any passengers.  Drats!  Just as Disney was about to have a monorail riot on its hands, monorail orange saved the day.

Hooray!

When we finally made it to the Magic Kingdom, we went straight for Tomorrowland and the People Mover, which we knew would have no line and would give us time to sit and contemplate our lunch plan.

Welcome to Tomorrowland!  Wait, weren't we here six hours ago?

We chose Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe as our lunch stop.  The food was decent, and some of the theme details in the restaurant were pretty cool.  There were three "bays" where you could order food: Bay 1 for chicken, Bay 2 for burgers, Bay 3 for sandwiches.  My favorite part was the condiment dispensers, which made an air hissing noise when you released the pump.

Cheeseburger + fries + Diet Coke = happy post-race Jess

After lunch, we continued our strategy of prioritizing short-wait rides that let us sit down and hit the carousel.

Diane and Heidi on their fearless steeds

One of my better self-portrait attempts, if I do say so myself

After our carousel ride, I couldn't resist a Sword in the Stone photo op.  There's actually a better photo of the three of us fighting over the sword, but I don't have it at the moment.

What can I say? Runners aren't known for their upper body strength

Still in Fantasyland, we hit two of our classic favorites: It's a Small World and Snow White's Scary Adventures.  I'm told that the Snow White ride absolutely terrified me when I was a small child, but these days I find Small World much scarier.

I'm always amazed at how this ride pulls off awesome and creepy at the same time

We were very excited to get the "Dopey" mine cart

Poor Prince Ferdinand--possibly the most often overlooked Disney Prince

After Fantasyland, I insisted on visiting Frontierland so I could go on my favorite ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  So you can imagine how heartbroken I was to find this:

No Thunder Mountain?!

Fortunately, a quick trip to Adventureland and the Jungle Cruise quickly turned things around for us.

Finally!  We spent a long time in line last year but gave up after hearing about an indefinite repair time

Watch your step!

Happy Jungle Cruisers

What was that?!

The tour was pretty much hilarious.  The script was great, as was our guide's delivery of all the ridiculous puns.  Although sometimes it seemed like the three of us were the only ones laughing ...

For those of you who aren't yet aware of this, you should know that Diane has a HUGE crush on Aladdin.  She waited in line for an hour to get his autograph.

Diane finally made it to Agrabah!

While we waited, we hit a souvenir stand, where Diane bought a Princess Jasmine tiara to wear during next year's race.  When the nice cashier lady heard us talking about our Prince crushes, she gave us these:

Walking around with these got a lot of "congratulations" from park employees.  I think she forgot to tell us something ...

Waiting makes me hungry.  Hooray for pineapple froyo!

The actors' ability to interact with park goers and stay in character was pretty amazing. This became especially apparent when Heidi asked if we could get a photo of Diane alone with Aladdin.

Aladdin and Jasmine both signed Diane's Tiara.  I was afraid things were going to get violent.

There are no words

Our day ended with one last stop -- character greeting time with Belle, Aurora, and Cinderella.  Heidi had picked up an awesome souvenir for her boyfriend, who is not nearly familiar enough with Disney Princesses, and we wanted to get it signed so that it would be all authentic-like.

Again, their ability to stay in character was amazing.  Belle kept asking everyone where their Beast was, or whether that was their Beast taking the photo.  We also each got a picture with our respective princess character.

After our princess visit, we headed back to the hotel for what might have been the highlight of the day -- our second annual pajama/pizza/Oscar party!

Beware of hungry runners

Have I mentioned that I love dominos?

Watching TV from bed is awesome

We spent about two hours watching red carpet coverage and eating pizza before promptly falling asleep once the ceremony started.  I think we all at least made it through Billy Crystal's intro.

Monday
Our flights didn't leave until mid-afternoon, so we decided to hit one last park before we lift Disney.  After dragging ourselves out of bed and having a cold pizza breakfast, we headed to Epcot.

Returning to the scene of the finish line

We arrived just after the park opened at 9am and managed to hit Epcot's top three attractions with very little waiting.  First up was Soarin', where they simulate flying over various parts of California.  As usual with Disney, the attention to detail was amazing.  Not only did they move the seats and adjust the airflow to make you feel the wind in your face, they also pumped in pine tree and orange scents!  Next we went to Test Track, which was just as fun as I remembered it.  Especially the high-speed lap around the banked turns on the outside of the building.

Our last ride at Epcot was Mission: SPACE.  This is the one where they create a "green" version and an "orange" version after the original ride proved to be way too intense for some people.  We, of course, opted for the more intense "orange" version, which meant that we got to spend our ten minutes in line being warned repeatedly about our impending doom, and asked even more frequently whether we were sure we wanted to do this and not switch to the "green" mission.  We stuck with our decision, and I am so glad we did.  I thought this ride was AMAZING (although I think Heidi and Diane disagree with me).  They put you in a dark little pod complete with barf bags, assign you roles that involve pushing buttons as you light up, and then spin you around in a centrifuge so that you start feeling the G force as if you were actually blasting off, going weightless, and landing on Mars.  I actually couldn't tell we were spinning except when I had to look to the side to press the navigator's buttons in addition to my pilot buttons, since we were one crew-member short.  I loved it and can't wait to ride again.  Heidi and Diane felt sick.

Before leaving for the airport, we stopped in Mexico for lunch, and then hit a final souvenir store for those essential last-minute Disney purchases.

Nothing cures motion sickness like tacos and margaritas!

And that's where this year's Disney adventure ends.  I already can't wait for the 2013 race!

Disney's Princess Half Weekend Recap Part 2: The Race

Sorry for the delay, everyone.  Crazy week at school!  Now, where was I ...

We really didn't want to oversleep on Sunday, so all three of us set our cellphone alarms for 3:20 am.  Twenty minutes later, we were geared up and on our way to the Polynesian Resort, where we could board a shuttle bus to take us to the start of the race outside Epcot.  When I sat down on my bus seat, it was already covered in sparkles from the runner who sat there before me!

There was a long line for the bus, so we had a nice lady take our picture while we waited

The bus dropped us off in the Wonder lot and we followed a whole bunch of other runners to the bag drop.

Disney grammar fail

It was pretty cold that early in the morning, so we decided to wait in the port-a-potty line before dropping off our gear bags.  I was not going to give up my jacket one minute before I had to!

After dropping our gear, we headed for Corral A, which was a nice change from last year when Heidi was in Corral A and Diane and I were back in B.  What was not so nice was the huge runner traffic jam leading up to the corrals.  We ended up going off road and through some bushes to get around the crowd so we could make it to our corral with a comfortable time buffer.  Heidi headed to the front of Corral A with all the speedsters, while Diane and I stayed at the back of the corral, just behind the two hour pacer.

A few minutes after 5:45 am, we were off!  I love races where they use fireworks instead of a starter pistol.  Diane and I managed to stick together for the first 7 miles or so, although she never stops at rest stops, so I ended up sprinting to catch up a few times when I needed water.

Passing the Tomorrowland Speedway in the dark.  Check out that quad!

Me and Diane leaving Cinderella's Castle

Unfortunately, right around mile six I started getting some pretty nasty stomach cramps.  I should have stopped at one of the numerous port-a-potties as we were leaving the Magic Kingdom, but of course I did not.  About a mile later, the cramps were bad enough that I had to walk for a bit while I scouted for the next rest stop, which is when I lost Diane.  Fortunately, I found one just before mile 8.  Actually, I believe it was the exact same rest stop where I had to stop thanks to some GI issues during last year's race, too!  The stop set me back a few minutes, but after that I felt much better and only needed to walk out the cramps one more time around mile 11.

My watch picked up an extra .19 miles somewhere.  Methinks the first mile split might be a bit off.

A not totally horrible action shot!  And an even better shot of Monster Quad!

Overall, I was happy with my race.  I wasn't expecting to PR coming off a heaviest part of my marathon training, so my goal was to hit 10 min miles or better.  I finished right at 2:11, even with my little pit stop, and ran 11 out of 13 miles under 10 min pace, with quite a few of them significantly under.

I got a high five from Minnie Mouse at the finish line!

Pretty proud of my perfectly even 5K and 10K splits

Loving the purple medal!

After the race, the super amazing race volunteers strapped an ice bag into my bum knee and I picked up all my post-race goodies.  Pretty solid food choices, including Luna protein bars, Pixar-themed fruit snacks, and these nice little snack boxes filled with healthy yumminess.

Snacks!

Then I found Heidi and Diane, and after a few minutes of resting on the asphalt, we dragged ourselves to a shuttle bus for the ride/walk back to the hotel so that we could get cleaned up and continue our Disney adventure!

UPDATE: I can't believe I almost forgot the most important part.  This is what happens to my brain when I get sleepy.  Congratulations to Diane for a new PR, and to Heidi for winning the military division!!!!